Gardai were hopeful yesterday that they have struck a fatal blow to plans by the dissident republicans who carried out last year's Omagh bombing to build a new terrorist organisation in the Republic.
Eight men and two teenage brothers were arrested after armed detectives interrupted a firearms class in an underground firing range in Co Meath. This brings to 26 the number of people arrested in connection with dissident republican activity in the past two weeks.
Garda operations have also disrupted plans by the group to set up a bomb-making operation in the south east and to establish terrorist units in south Donegal, Dublin and the Meath-Louth area.
According to senior Garda sources, the Special Branch has been co-ordinating raids against the group previously known as the "Real" IRA and now styling itself "Oglaigh na hEireann". The gardai's intention i has been to disrupt the attempts to establish a terrorist base in the Republic.
Senior gardai are satisfied that their operations have been a success. However, they say they are not satisfied that the organisation has been irretrievably damaged.
The leader of the group, a Dundalk man who previously held a senior position in the Provisional IRA, is still at large and it is suspected he will continue trying to build a terrorist organisation.
His supporters have been recruiting young people in the Republic, several of whom have been arrested in recent weeks. They have also amalgamated with members of another small dissident republican group known as the Continuity IRA.
Gardai are satisfied that despite being involved in arms smuggling and a number of murders earlier this year, the Provisional IRA ceasefire is largely intact.
Yesterday the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, said his officers would continue their operations to "stamp out" activity by armed groups. He added: "We will continue to share intelligence with the RUC".
On Wednesday evening, as the Garda operation in Co Meath was being launched, the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, warned that the dissidents were again intent on carrying out acts of violence in the North.
The latest Garda operation uncovered an underground training base which had been set up by dissidents in the ruins of Herbertstown House, near Naul, Co Meath.
The former wine cellar was in the middle of a large stretch of farmland and had been converted into a firing range.
Gardai fired stun and smoke grenades into the cellar to quell the armed men inside.
Officers recovered an AK47 assault rifle, a sub-machinegun a pistol and 150 rounds of ammunition.
Among those arrested at the scene were three Dublin brothers, one of whom was yesterday jailed for a previous firearms offence; two brothers aged 14 and 17 from the North Strand in Dublin; a Co Louth man described as the "number two" in the dissident group; a south Armagh man and a Co Meath man who are both also described as senior figures in the organisation.
They are all in Garda custody under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. Garda Chief Supt Michael Finnegan, of the Louth-Meath Division, said the operation was a joint effort involving members of the Special Branch Surveillance Unit, the Garda Aerial Unit and officers from his own division.